Final Fantasy XVI is the latest entry in the long-running, beloved JRPG series and it is so radically different from all of the games that came before it.
One of the most important new gameplay features in the game is the abilities, which come from the Eikons and require points to unlock. I aim to help you out with earning those points in this Final Fantasy XVI ability point farming guide.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll find that there are not nearly enough points in the game to fully upgrade and unlock every ability in the Eikon skill tree.
As you get deeper into the story, Clive Rosfield unlocks more and more powers, which makes it tough for completionists who want to fully see everything in the game. But everything will be a lot easier with this Final Fantasy XVI ability point farming guide.
Bottom Line Up Front
Ability points are some of the most important currency that a player can accumulate during Clive’s emotional journey across the world of Valisthea. They unlock the player to unlock various abilities, which are tied to the numerous Eikon that the character unlocks throughout the game.
There are several Eikons that Clive can use in battle, and each of them has its dedicated circle of abilities to unlock and upgrade. It is an impressively deep system and one of the best parts of the gameplay in Final Fantasy XVI.
But earning ability points can be tough and a slow process. As such, I have found that there are a few main methods for unlocking ability points the fastest in the game. Most of them have to do with taking out certain enemies in the game, such as specific Chocobos (sorry), and also completing side quests.
What Are Ability Points and Abilities in Final Fantasy XVI?
Final Fantasy XVI is, admittedly, pretty light in the RPG department. While its combat, graphics, and story are firing on all cylinders, you could argue that the RPG part of JRPG is a bit minuscule, if that. But what I do appreciate about the game is that it at least has various abilities.
Similar to other games, there are essentially several skill trees, or circles I should say, that Clive Rosfield has access to. These let you unlock various abilities that you can use in combat while you are channeling the powers of the various Eikon summons that you gain access to throughout the game.
This allows you to channel the skills of the Warden of Thunder, Ramuh, or the Warden of Light, Bahamut. However, there is more to it than that, as you have to earn ability points to unlock these abilities and even upgrade them further to be more powerful.
Unfortunately, ability points don’t come that easy in the game. You generally have to fight lots of enemies or complete certain quests and you will earn a handful of points. While some abilities are rather easy to unlock at only a couple hundred points, others are well in the thousands. Fortunately, I have your back when it comes to all of this.
Ability Point Farming Tips
Before you start farming using the specific methods I have for you below, there are a few tips you should keep in mind when farming for ability points:
- Turn on Story Mode. I get that this is the “easier” difficulty option in the game’s settings, but it makes grinding for these points much less stressful and a whole lot easier. Plus, you can always switch back to Action Mode whenever you’re done.
- With Story Mode on, be sure to equip the Ring of Timely Strikes and Ring of Timely Evasion accessories. There are some other Story Mode accessories you could use, but these are the main ones that will turn combat into a one-button affair.
- Anytime you want to grind a specific location for monsters, what you want to do is defeat the enemies and then open up your map. From there, open up the world map and teleport to another place like Cid’s Hideaway or another location. Then teleport back to where you are farming for ability points and the monsters will automatically respawn.
- When in doubt, reset your ability points and try something new.
- New Game+ is, unfortunately, the best spot for grinding ability points. You may want to consider playing through the game having fun at your own pace and then worrying about maxing out everything on your second playthrough.
How to Farm for Ability Points
I would say that there are three main methods for farming ability points in Final Fantasy XVI. I wouldn’t even say that they are separate farming methods and you should choose a specific one to focus on for your playthrough because they usually function in different parts of the game.
Instead, it is better to use certain methods while you are earlier in the game’s story and then a particular endgame one when you’re near the end of the story.
But no matter which method you go about grinding for ability points, you’ll want to have a particular accessory in your possession that is going to make your job a whole lot easier.
Find the Wages of Warcraft
Before you start any of the below three methods for farming ability points, the first thing you want to focus on is earning yourself The Wages of Warcraft. This is one of the best accessories in the entire game, and I would even argue that it is fairly high up there in the top ten list.
This accessory can be found—slight spoiler alert—after completing the main story quest Cid the Outlaw. After this point, head to Charon’s Toll and buy this item there. It is going to cost you a fair bit of gil but if you save up your money most of the time, it shouldn’t be a problem.
The reason you need The Wages of Warcraft accessory is that it gives Clive a massive 25% boost to ability points that you get from the various normal enemy encounters in the game. If you beat a foe(s) and you are supposed to receive only 100 points, you would get 125 now, and so on.
While that amount is great, it might not sound too impressive to some players but think of it this way. Let’s say that you can defeat an enemy that gives 100 ability points in two minutes. Grind that 30 times for 3000 ability points in an hour’s worth of time.
But if you were to have The Wages of Warcraft accessory during that grind period, you would get 125 points per win, instead. This would net out to 3750 ability points in the same amount of time. It is recommended that all players buy and equip this accessory as soon as they can unlock it in the main story.
Side Quests Method
To be fair to all players, the first method I recommend for farming ability points isn’t geared toward newcomers or those who are early in the main story. It takes a little bit of time to reach the main story quest necessary to get The Wages of Warcraft, so you aren’t able to do the most optimal grinding possible at first.
Instead, you want to focus on the side quests, marks, and the like that you have access to at the beginning of the game. Hunt down the bosses you are tasked with and help with menial tasks like finding the crystal for the fisherman who dropped it in the marshes.
Many of these side quests and optional content will grant the player some ability points, usually in a much higher amount than you would find in grinding enemies for the same amount of time in the early parts of the story.
I remember that I had more than 3000 ability points in the first three hours of the game from fighting every enemy I came across and doing all of the side quests.
This helped me to instantly unlock arguably the best ability for Garuda as soon as I got her powers in the main story, despite it costing nearly 2000 points to do so.
Side quests and hunt marks in this game might not be the most entertaining, especially for the first half of the story, but they are generally quick and easy to do so it makes this a prime farming method for early players.
Grind Bluebirds and Other Enemies
The second method for farming ability points is for players who are a bit further into the main story and have access to The Wages of Warcraft. There are two main enemy farming methods that I suggest players work on, the first being for players who have the AP accessory and the other for endgame players.
As soon as you have The Wages of Warcraft, what you want to do is start grinding out Bluebird enemies. These are the special types of Chocobos that you will occasionally see in various places of the world. They are usually in the middle of a group of regular Chocobos.
They are notable for their bright blue main body and green feathers that give them an intriguing neon appearance. They also give much more ability points than their normal, boring-looking pals do. Here are some of the locations where you can find Bluebirds quite reliably in the game:
- Martha’s Rest: You can find a couple of Bluebirds in this early game area as soon as you reach here. They are generally found in the marshes near the chapel that you visit briefly in the main story to learn about the Bearers and their curse.
- Northreach: There are quite a few packs of Chocobos that generally have a Bluebird in this area, just northeast of the town. You can go through the packs here and repeat them pretty well. This is the location I recommend to grind once you reach this place.
The goal is to head to these locations, take out the Bluebirds there, and then instantly teleport back to another spot like the Hideaway.
Then instantly teleport back and the enemies will have respawned. Keep this up and you’ll get ability points in no time. I suggest the Northreach one because it is much easier to find the Chocobos and reach them from where you teleport.
This is the dedicated method that most players can get by with for the vast majority of the game. You can generally get a few thousand points an hour through this method with the right equipment and Story Mode.
Endgame Farming Method
Finally, there is the endgame farming method. This one requires you to be near the end of the main story, so know that there are some light spoilers regarding locations ahead. You want to head to the Ravenwit Walls location in the Kingdom of Waloed.
There is an obelisk right near the pack of hyena enemies that are in this spot. You want to take these enemies out over and over, fast-travel somewhere else, and then come back to take them out some more. They are super easy to reach at the end of the game and grinding them repeatedly is a breeze.
This is another situation where you want to stick to Story Mode and a bunch of accessories that will make your job a whole lot easier in this grinding method. I suggest the Ring of Timely Strikes Ring of Timely Evasion, and The Wages of Warcraft.
Do this and you should be able to several thousand points per hour, even in the tens of thousands of points per hour. Now, I mentioned before that the best way to grind is in the New Game+. This is because you unlock the ability to upgrade certain accessories and have more of them this way.
If you are in New Game Plus+, you can significantly boost what The Wages of Warcraft does for you and get about 1000 points in less than two minutes through this hyena farming method. Yes, you are looking at literally well over 30,000 AP that you can farm an hour, which is incredible and the best possible method for maxing out Clive’s abilities currently in the game.
How to Reset Your Abilities and Get Back Points
One of the most annoying parts about the ability system in Final Fantasy XVI is that you unlock more Eikons as the game goes on. Since you don’t initially know exactly how many circles of abilities you’ll have, you are throwing darts at a board trying to figure out which abilities work for you.
Thankfully, there is a bright side to the situation if you happen to regret some of your ability choices later on. You can restore your ability points anytime you want, and the best part is that the game doesn’t charge you anything to reset your points back to what they were previously. This is so much better than the system found in most games.
What I recommend you do is find an ability that you don’t want anymore. Hover over it and you can hold down a button to reset that ability and get your points back from it. I suggest doing this for all of the useless upgrades and abilities that you never use.
You can then apply those points to other parts of the ability circles. You can even do this as many times as you want, so I recommend trying out abilities in the training mode so that you can see what works best for you.
Best Abilities to Use Your Points for
If I had to give you a few abilities to set you on your journey right that will ensure you aren’t wasting your time and ability points (though that isn’t too big of an issue), here are the three abilities that I would recommend to you relatively early on in the game:
- Flames of Rebirth: This is an extremely expensive ability for Phoenix, which is the initial Eikon skill circle for Clive. It is immensely powerful and it gives Clive’s health back. Probably the best Eikon ability in the game, in my opinion.
- Aerial Blast: This is by far the best ability you can get for Garuda, creating a massive tornado that lasts for a good while. It stuns enemies and deals some alright damage, too.
- Gigaflare: Bahamut’s signature ability is one of the best, too. It deals the top-tier damage in the entire game, plus it gives some nice effects to enemies that will help you set up your next move.
How to Unlock the Ability Points Trophies on PS5
Abilities and their points are important for so much more than just upgrading Clive to be able to use new powers. Two trophies are related to your abilities in this game given its exclusivity for PS5. Here are the trophies that you can get:
- Yes, Eikon: Bronze trophy. This requires you to unlock all abilities, feats, and upgrades for a single Eikon.
- Masterclass: Gold trophy. This requires you to unlock all abilities, feats, and upgrades for every single Eikon in the game.
The first one isn’t that hard to do, even earlier in the game using some of the methods we have. But the Masterclass trophy requires you to obtain a massive nearly 120,000 ability points in total to unlock everything. Don’t even expect to come close to that without using the endgame method or you’ll spend the entire length of the game just grinding points.
FAQs
Question: What are the best Eikon abilities in Final Fantasy XVI?
Answer: The best Eikon abilities in Final Fantasy XVI ultimately come down to personal preference. However, if I had to recommend three to anyone, it would be the Flames of Rebirth from Phoenix, Aerial Blast from Garuda, and the Gigaflare ability from Bahamut that you should all consider using.
Question: How do you unlock more abilities in Final Fantasy 16?
Answer: You can unlock more abilities in Final Fantasy 16 by collecting and spending ability points you get from enemies and side quests. You also get more abilities by unlocking new Eikons for Clive Rosfield to use in combat. This is done by continuing the main storyline of the game.
Question: What is the best Final Fantasy 16 Eikon?
Answer: There are quite a lot of Eikons for players to use in Final Fantasy 16, but the best one of them all is, ultimately, going to come down to your personal preference. If I had to pick one that I prefer over all of the others, I would have to go with Bahamut due to its impressive set of abilities across the board. But Phoenix is a close second for its iconic nature and surprisingly fantastic skills.
Final Fantasy XVI Ability Point Farming Guide: Final Thoughtsfi
The ability points in Final Fantasy XVI are one of the most important parts of the entire experience. These abilities are what make this game and its combat so extraordinary, and arguably one of the best hack-and-slash style combat systems in gaming history.
However, the ability points are not the only RPG-style part of this game that you can engage with. Sure, the RPG elements are, unfortunately, lesser in this latest FF entry, but there is still plenty of equipment for players to use and find in the game.
If you want to know about all the different types of equipment in the Final Fantasy franchise, including some that are used in FF16, you are in the right place.